Today brings the small-screen debut of one of Marvel’s most hotly anticipated characters, Kamala Khan. The debut of Ms. Marvel will see the MCU’s first Muslim superhero take centre stage in a six-episode season that promises to impress fans old and new.
Over the Platinum Jubilee weekend we got the chance to join in a global press conference with the cast, writers and directors from the show. We heard how star Iman Vellani agonised over decisions between acting and school, how Matt Lintz was welcomed in to the series’ Muslim community and how Marvel allowed the series’ directors to craft its unique visual style.
In part two of our coverage we hear from the cast playing Kamal Khan’s family about bringing those core values to the super hero genre and adjusting to life in the MCU…
Mohan Kapur talks representation to a contemporary audience
I don’t think this series is shouting from the rooftops say that, “Watch me.” We’re talking about representation. It’s a wonderful story of a community that’s so ethnically diverse and culturally rich. And for me coming from that region, I think it’s a fabulous opp, because we certainly say this is the Marvel Universe telling a story about our milieu. And it’s so beautifully and so subliminally, you know, translated over scenes. You know, a small scene like you go to the mosque, you put your shoes over there, you come back and the shoes are gone. That’s a real thing. That’s a really thing. You know? The process of entering a mosque, the festivals, the wedding ceremonies they’re just so beautiful. And I’m sure that… I know this for a fact from whatever little social media that I’m into, that side of the world, they just can’t wait to see this happen. This is us.
Zenobia Shroff on the authenticity of South Asian mothers
They’re all like that. I think Muneeba Khan is, you know, a real prototype of the South Asian mother, highly protective, very loving, kind, but very fierce. And will thrown down when she has to. And I just think in terms of the family dynamic, Adil, Bilall, we all got there about there about three weeks before the shooting began, but it was very organic. We had a few rehearsals. I don’t think anything was forced or pushed. Saagar and Mohan and I have been saying been saying we have a baseline understanding of each other, and Iman, because we were all born in South Asian households, whether these two were born in the Americas, we were raised in India. But we have a baseline understanding of each other which is very deep. And based on that, I think we just quietly built it and built it. And then the writing, and it just, the yin and yang of it, you know, Muneeba became the yang; she’s definitely the yang.
Saagar Shaikh on the family dynamic on set
Yeah, I mean what’s an obvious saying, like just all of us being South Asian, you know, I feel like we come with this code that we all just get. And so, you know, that’s just the foundation that we already had going into this. And so, there was a lot less explaining that needed to be done or a lot less learning about each other’s, you know, culture that we just didn’t need to do because it was already there. So, you know, we just kinda built on that, and it was a lot easier that way.
Check back later for more coverage from the press conference and make sure to check out our first impressions of the series right here.
Ms. Marvel will air weekly on Disney+ beginning June 8, 2022.
